


Blue Rain

by PiscesRain



Series: The Lost Canvas [1]
Category: The Maze Runner (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Asian Character(s), Best Friends, Character Death, Character Development, Discovery, Drama & Romance, Escape, F/M, Falling In Love, Feelings, Female Protagonist, Forgiveness, Friendship, Grief/Mourning, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Love, Love Stories, Male-Female Friendship, Memories, POV Female Character, Past Relationship(s), Recovered Memories, Repressed Memories, Self-Hatred, Slow Romance, Treason
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2020-07-24 18:27:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20019025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PiscesRain/pseuds/PiscesRain
Summary: It took nothing but a few hours for Gladys and Aris, two members of group B, to realise the new group brought in by Janson's men would change their lives.Newt x OCHappens in the movies.





	1. Prologue

"Aris..."

My friend raised his head from his plate, his eyes meeting mine with a glint of apprehension. It would soon be time for Janson to take away more people. "Don't these guys there seem familiar?"

Aris moved his eyes from me, his hood covering his light hair as he slowly trailed his gaze behind me, following the movement of my head. "Which ones?"

"The ones who arrived yesterday," I muttered quickly with a blink, turning my head to cast them a fleeting glance as they spoke with another group of newly arrived guys. Aris and I had been here the longest; it had been a week, and we had both seen different faces every day. But some heads of the last group, which had arrived yesterday only, looked quite familiar. I couldn't put my finger on it, but it was as if I had already seen them...

Aris hurriedly turned his head when the group glanced at us, surely noticing our gazes. Aris' pupils didn't move anywhere from the side of his eyes as he looked directly at me. "Don't know," he murmured, cautious, speaking very lowly. "Maybe you met them before the maze?"

I closed my eyes a moment, trying to avoid stealing glances at them. "Maybe."

That was a sensitive topic for both of us. I didn't remember _the before_ the maze, as Aris didn't too. Not like I had stayed there much long, since I had come out of the box three months before Aris, the only boy in an all-girls maze, had showed up.

Janson, that rat-looking man, had claimed to every single person here that they had saved us; that they would take us away, a new life; however, the stretchers Aris and I had seen in that grey corridor didn't really convince us; the bodies never came back; how could these people be any different from Wicked?

I dropped my gaze and directed it towards Aris' plate of food, feeling as if one of those newly arrived guys was inspecting us, or _me_. These guys were speaking between them, in the same instant as Janson and his colleagues came, a regular and monotonic act that tricked appearances: he would be giving the names of the next killed runners in a few minutes.

My heart beated in disgust and fear, and I tried to avoid gulping and instead decided to breathe slowly, delicately; to avoid attracting attention. Though the fact that Aris -who was only looking at me in total fear, now, clutching his hands in a fist- and I had been acting like a wall around others: never spoke to anyone else, too afraid to share the secret of that grey corridor.

"Your new lives are about to begin," Janson said loudly and cheerfully.

I risked a quick glance again at the newly arrived group as Janson began giving loudly the names of his next victims -Aris, on the other hand, was completely shivering, and I tried to stop the few tears that wanted to escape from my eyes, my throat suddenly burning. The new group was composed of a very handsome American-looking guy, An Asian boy, a fat black guy, an atypical looking guy with tanned skin and a big nose, and one cute blond guy who caught my attention; he was the one who seemed the most familiar to me, with his warm brown eyes and elfish features.

Slowly, I started to realise I was maybe caring for someone I didn't even know the name of.

_If he has the unluck of being called, that will be solved_. I thought grimmly, avoiding to shake my head, hoping it wouldn't happen.

"... Franklin and Abigail."

I breathed out in relief whereas the majority of people groaned in disappointment as the long line of chosen persons stood against the dark wall. It was finally over, but tomorrow, the same routine would happen again; and they would never get to hear others being called.

"...Toworrow is another day. Your time will come." said Janson with a smile, his blue eyes twinkling.

I huffed silently, while Aris kept on holding his hands tightly. Everyone began to applaud the chosen of this day. We hadn't been called again, but it was only a short-lived relief.

"We're lucky it wasn't us today either," I murmured as slowly as I could to Aris, but he refused to even glance at me. "We should-"

"Hey, Teresa!"

Aris and I looked up surprisingly in the same time, and he took off his hood while turning towards where a masculine voice had been raised. The American guy who belonged to the cute blond guy's group had gotten up from his chair and was now walking towards the giant doors where stood the usual guards.

_What's he trying to do?_

I raised my eyebrows and opened my mouth slowly, surprised, my eyes widening. The guy and the guards exchanged only a few words, but he looked reluctant, stealing a glance towards the long horizontal glass on the wall, until he finally got back to his friends. It looked as if he wanted to speak to a particular person, but I had been so caught up in the fact that he had raised his voice that I hadn't seen the faces of the people in the glass in time.

I brought my gaze down again in the same moment that Aris looked back at me in total confusion.

Had we found someone we could trust here? Someone who wouldn't be afraid nor shocked by the truth of these corridors?

Unexpectedly and unable to stop my self, my head turned and my eyes trailed from the guy who had now sat up again to the cute blond boy, and instantly, he turned his head towards me, sensing my gaze on him, and our eyes met; his enticing brown eyes capturing me in a daze I couldn't escape from. His fine lips, clear skin and messy blond hair reminding me of something, _someone_ important.

Suddenly, I could make out something -far away, but close in the same time -a delightful smile and white teeth; a happy face though pain was awaiting.

"Gladys?" Aris asked me. "Is there something..."

I gasped, and the blond guy widened his eyes before I gulped and turned my head away from him, ignoring Aris' questioning look as my cheeks reddened intensively. There was definitely something with that blond guy -no, with that new group, even the Asian guy and the other guy looked familiar to me now.

Maybe I would finally remember; remember my life before the maze.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!
> 
> I hope you the story so far. English isn't my first language, so I really appreciate any criticism you can offer me. You're also free to voice out your opinions about the story, whether they're negative or positive. 
> 
> I don't own TMR. I only own my plot and OC Gladys.
> 
> Thanks for reading! I hope you'll leave me a com or a kudo ^3^


	2. Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After seeing the new group, Gladys has the feeling that things are going to change very soon...

"Aris..." I began uncertainly as I saw my friend open the vent under my bed. It was darkness inside, but a few gleams of light could come from elsewhere.

"You saw him, too, right?" Aris asked with determination. "I can show him. He's different: he doesn't seem like the kind of person to submit, and he seems as suspicious as us. Maybe he could help us find Rachel and get out of here," his voice was soft, but hurried. "I will be very quick, I promise you, Gladys."

I winced and raised down my worried gaze as I stood behind him. "That's not it: You know I trust you, I am just worried about what will happen if he doesn't believe you, or if the both of you weren't careful enough."

"Gladys, don't worry," I heard him say with a strong voice, which sounded so strange from him. "We'll be fine. You know I'd rather be outside then kept as a prisoner here."

He entered the vent, his shoes disappearing from my sight.

I closed my eyes, hearing my heart beat strongly; I really hoped we wouldn't have the unluck of being discovered. I always stressed out over the simplest of things, and this was really like having my hands on a fire.

Finally, sighing to myself, I sat down across the massive door that caged us, and crossed my legs, waiting for Aris.

He came back later, looking even more determinated, and I knew upon seeing him, that he had succeeded. He crawled from out the vent on his hands and knees, his light hair a mess and his cheeks red as he moved forward as silently as possible, blinking to re-adjust his eyes to the light of the room. I didn't move from my position as his body completely left from under my bed.

"I think he might be able to convince at least his friends," he told me after few moments, coming to sit cross-legged and opposed to me, his shoes almost touching mine.

"If you say so, then I believe you," I said, a slow smile dancing on my bruised face, a depressing memory coming up. The scars those monsters had given me when I had tried to protect Aris in the maze would never fade.

The morning after, the same routine issued: Janson and his men came and called new people.

I put my head on my crossed arms, my body facing Aris who was seemingly looking in fascination at a bright orange fruit, probably trying to distract himself from Janson's too cheerful voice which echoed in the silence of murmurs until he finished his damn list and everyone applauded, not knowing they would all be gone in a few days.

Rachel was gone too. What they had done to her? Was she a corpse now?

The feelings of eyes on me made me breathe harder and try to calm myself. My head was still on my arms, until, the sound of someone suddenly raising from their seat loudly attracted my attention.

Thomas, as Aris had told me his name, was walking towards the giant doors, determination painted on his face. Aris, too, was no longer interested in his meal, as both of us watched Thomas with interest. What would he do?

Fleetly, I stole a glance at his friends. The Asian looking one was looking at him rather comically, but not really surprised. Had Thomas told them about what was really happening here?

My eyes darted to the cute blond, meeting his stare for a moment, before Thomas attracted our attention again. In a flash, he collided with the guards. They didn't seem to speak fondly, as one of the guards roughly pushed Thomas back with one finger, murmuring something to him. Inwardly, I winced. It was as if their true selves were beginning to appear.

From where I was, I couldn't really make out everything, but when Thomas turned on himself to push his body violently against the guards, I know he had something planned.

Instantly, shouts and cries echoed, and Thomas' friends immediately rushed to his side to separate him from the outraged guards. They moved so fastly, surprising my eyes in a place where everyone had been sitting down calmly. Now, every eyes was on them.

"What the hell," I muttered breathelessly, my eyes looking in shock.

"What the hell?!"

"Control your friend!" A guard shouted menacingly to Thomas' companions, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

Janson soon came from the doors, but Thomas' friends were already prying him away, murmuring among themselves.

"What's happening here?!" Janson asked loudly, raising his voice. His stare immediately went to Thomas, his eyes deeply and intently examining him.

Inwardly, I shivered. Ever since the first day I had seen him, that rat-man never made me feel an ounce of sympathy. His nice smile and voice seemed to be as fake as a snake.

"Thomas," Janson said with a frown, looking disappointed by the guy's behaviour. He ran his eyes across the hall, as if he were in a show, assessing the other people. "I thought we could trust each other," he put his hand on Thomas' shoulder with what looked like regret and sympathy. "You know we're all in the same team here," his voice rang in, but I couldn't hear Thomas's answer; he was speaking lowly, as if he were trying to keep his emotions in check.

All of a sudden, Janson smiled. He rolled his blue eyes with amusement. Slowly, I came to realise that my fingers were shaking. This man makes me sick.

I pressed my lips together to avoid screaming like I wanted to do, my heart was screaming instead, hammering against my chest so hard I thought anyone could hear it in such a quiet. Something strong was pushing against me, something that made me want to raise my voice, to loudly express something.

"Bring them back to their banks."

In the next instant, everyone looked tensingly at the group of runners -Thomas and his friends- who was being sent away to their doorms. No one said anything as the guards ushered them non-gently and gruntly. Their feet making noises in the silence, as they walked fastly.

I turned my head when they passed in my direction, my eyes meeting the blond one's. He blinked, but turned his head away as he was being sent back with Thomas and the others.

"Everyone back in the dorms!" Janson shouted suddenly.

I breathed, my eyes wide as Aris caught my arm when we got up simultaneously; his eyes said it all. Guards came for each group of runners -as usual- and we were all kicked out quickly of the restroom. Aris' hand refused to leave my arm as someone roughly pulled us in the corridor towards the doorms.

When I turned back to look at Aris, I caught's Janson's eyes. He was smiled broadly, making my heart race faster than in the maze, than when the monster had almost had my face.

I desperately washed my face in the small bathroom sink behind Aris' bed. I tried to wash it well so I could get away from all my feelings: fear, sadness... I wanted it to disappear.

Aris took his covers off his bed and covered the glass door. He always did that when he would explore the vent.

I sighed deeply, watching the scars than ran on my face with sadness. I didn't even want to touch them, they made me remember awful things I'd rather never be reminded of.

My friend kneelt down under my bed, opening the vent's cage, his face red as he took another deep breath. He was getting excited by this, and I could feel my metabolism release some adrenaline too. I had a very bad presentiment.

Aris's head was already under my bed. "Thomas probably did something that might allow us to go," he said hurriedly. I came near him, his body disappearing in the vent.

"Gladys, if someone ever comes, juste hide here. I'll find a way to find you," with a more deeper voice, he said "We're going to find Rachel and get out of here," he promised.

I was sitting under my bed when Aris came back later. I felt cold from the floor, but I was so afraid Janson would show up I couldn't help. It was pure torture; fearing that they would take me away from Aris, from the hope of ever finding Rachel. I was beginning to regret not going with Aris when he showed his upset face in the vent's cage. "Gladys!"

I turned my head, my eyes falling on his face. Relief immediately caressed my heart. "What too-"

"We gonna go!" he screamed, making me pale. He sounded extremely panicked.

"What happened?" I said with a trembling voice, seeing Aris back down as I turned over my right side, my head opposed to his since I tried not to hit the bed with my head.

Seeing him acting like this made me scared. What had happened? "Did you find Rachel?" I asked with a stronger octave, hope and emotion in my voice.

Aris' eyes fell as he backed down more to let me enter the vent. He took a long time to answer me. "We need to go! I'll explain everything later! We need to rejoin Thomas now!"

I gulped as he helped me enter. My elbow hurt as I moved to put all of my body inside. I wasn't used to this. My hands touched a surface even colder than the room's floor, my heart was beating frantically. The vents were red, probably from the few lights.

It wasn't easy to breathe in here, since it was small and hot, too. My eyes took time to adjust to obscurity, and I began breathing heavily, my throat so warm it became dry. Aris was moving too fastly for me, and I had a hard time keeping up with him and breathing as we turned around each corner. I could feel his tension just like the temperature, and panic grew wider in my stomach as I realised what was happening. They were coming for us.

"Ah!" I winced when something made my elbow bleed. Aris turned his head at me swiftly. "Are you okay?!"

"Yes, I think so. It's nothing too severe," I assured him softly, yet I was panicked. "Let's continue!"

He seemed to want to say something, but he stopped. These canals were like the maze runner: a true maze. I could hardly imagine how he couldn't lose himself while exploring. But contrarily to me, in the maze, Aris had been a runner. His memory had allowed him to cartography the maze along with Rachel.

Hurried breaths and odors of sweat came to my senses once we arrived at a another corner between two paths. Aris froze, stopping.

"...Thomas?" Aris called warily. The bodies seemed to get closer.

"We're here, Aris!"

Thomas appeared at our left, his friends behind him, all sweaty. He nodded at Aris and glanced at me for a second.

"Let's all leave this damned place," the guy said through gritted teeth. Even in darkness, his eyes seemed to burn with life.

In front of us, through the vent's cage, light shone brightly. Thomas violently pushed the vent's cage open with his hands after ten seconds of hesitation. He got out first, looking around, then followed by his friends, Aris and me.

I blinked, taking a deep breath and trying to re-adjust my eyes to the light made by the white corridors all around. It hurt a bit to have been bathed in darkness only to be later surrounded by light and clear surroundings, especially when it was this intense.

"Come on, let's go!" Thomas yelled-whispered, making gestures with his arms and hands, his feet moving along, showing off his body's excitation. I inhaled heavily, turning my head and meeting the Asian's eyes for a moment.

"Wait, there's something I need to do!" Aris exclaimed as he looked around the place. There were two ways: a long way from the direction we had come through the vent, and another in front of us.

"What are you talking about?" said Thomas hurriedly.

"Trust me, it's important! You guys want to get out here, right? Just go. Gladys, can you stay with them?"

I looked at him, frowning. We had never been separated since he had come out of the box. "Aris-"

"Please, Gladie. I'd feel better if I knew you were out of here sooner than needed."

I felt the blond guy's eyes on us, making me shiver inwardly. Newt.

"Alright," I sighed in defeat, my fingers itching in frustration.

It was all because Harriet's promise.

"I am going with him," the guy with a big nose said as Aris went back in the vent.

"Okay, Winston!" Thomas said hurriedly again, completely letting his emotions take over as he moved, dragging us along with him.

I could see it in his eyes: It was more than getting out of here. He seemed to be looking for someone or something, and that seemed to make him extremely tensed. His face was red, sweaty; his eyes concentrated as he moved his muscles to flex his strong legs and arms.

"Are you sure we can trust this kid?" the Asian guy yelled at Thomas, the words making my eyes widen in disbelief.

"Hey!" I shouted at the Asian guy, coming to his level, my breath heavier with each step.

I had never been a runner after all.

The Asian guy raised his brows when he saw me, as if he had just noticed my existence. "Aris just saved your life!" I hissed with indignation.

"I can agree with that," Thomas said immediately while running, the white corridors showed off a junction at his right. All of this reminded me the maze I had lost so many friends in. Thomas looked straight at me as he said this: "I don't want to know where we would be without Aris."

I didn't add anything, looking away.

Thomas and the Asian guy turned in the junction: Newt and the black guy were just behind me, their cheeks bright red and sweat in their hair.

A walking black woman in a white blouse appeared as soon as we turned to the junction. Her eyes went wide when she saw us, shock and surprise registering on her face as she gasped.

Intense stress immediately found its way in my heart, making me gulp, warmth raising in my body as the woman in front of us assessed us.

Was our new freedom only short-lived?

"... What are you kids doing out?" she asked quickly with a high voice that echoed in the quiet.

As if on clue, loud noises echoed everywhere in the corridors. Immediately, the woman's already wide eyes widened even more, and she stared at each of us in utter disbelief. The alarms!

Thomas and the Asian guy exchanged a glance between them. The black woman seemed panicked at what we would do: fear was pratically swimming in her eyes!

The Asian made the first move, a wicked glint in his eyes, and before the black woman could move, he already had her arm in his hold. "Why don't you show us the way, miss?"

"You-"

"Do it!"

And before I understood what was happening, I found myself running again with Thomas and his friends, my breath swimming in the air. My chest hurt so much, as if I was going to get asphyxiated. It was why I couldn't become a runner back in the days in the glade.

But no matter how much we were running from a corridor to another, it seemed as if it I was in the maze again, only this time, the maze was whiter than snow-that is, if I had even seen it once in my life before entering the glade. The alarms were still on, louder than ever.

As soon as we took another junction, a man's form quickly came in sight, all in black. "Stop!" he yelled.

Faster than eyes, he began to shot at us with a gun, and I shrieked out of surprise, running back with my feet to avoid being hitten.

"Why are they shooting us?!"

Everyone ran back on their steps, until the Asian guy stopped and turned back a moment, an intense gleam in his eyes.

"Minho! What the hell are you doing?!" Thomas yelled after him.

The Asian guy ran towars the wall opposite to us with a loud scream, as if he was declaring war. In the same moment, the man's figure appeared back at the junction's corner, and the Asian guy's knee collided with his chest, making him faint instantly. A few drops of blood even painted the grey wall like red flakes.

I respired heavily, impressed at the scene in front of me. Immediately, all of our group rejoined the Asian guy, Minho.

"Shit, Minho," the blond guy, Newt, looked at him with an impressed grin that said it all as Thomas took the officer's weapon, eyeing it warily. In the same instant, he looked at the black woman and took her by the arm. "Let's go."

I stared at him, trying to concentrate in the sea of noises provoked by the loud alarms. I had already noticed Thomas seemed to be looking for something. He seemed more perturbed than anyone.

"Where is she?" he threateningly asked the woman he had in his hold.

She remained silent, until he put his weapon against her head. "Where is Theresa?!" he yelled an octave louder.

The woman seemed to gulp, shivering from fear, until she gave him the answer he had been looking for.

The woman and Thomas advanced towards a metallic door. She opened it with her pass, her body covering our forms from what was inside.

"Dr. Crawford, wait-"

It was all Thomas had needed to push the woman aside, enter, and threaten everyone with his weapon. Minho followed after him, then Newt and me entered as Thomas began yelling at the doctors and nurses in white blouses, cornering them against a pharmacy, its glass shattering as some object like stings fell out.

The nursing staff breathed heavily, terrified by our group's sudden appearance.

"Where is she?!" Thomas repeated, his voice madder than before. The doctors kept their hands in the air as in surrender. Thomas' gaze traveled from them to a white curtain at the left.

With quick moves, he gave his weapon to Minho and moved to the curtain, taking it away. My eyes followed him, seeing a sleeping girl, until Minho's "get down!" took me back to the scene in front of me.

I spared a glance at the door. The black kid was there, making me relieved. He was eyeing through the doors if anyone was coming through the glass door.

"Get down!" Minho yelled again, his voice roaring like a tyrant.

"Wait-"

"Get down!" he repeated loudly with a yell, his scream echoing.

The man in front of him gave up and got down with a groan, just like the rest of his colleagues. They were cornered in a place just under the broken pharmacy.

My head moved, trying to find something that would be useful, until my eyes fell on some adhesive bandages that were placed on a table; it had survived our outburst and hadn't been broken. I looked at the blond, Newt, and his eyes found mine, their warm brown colour enticing me in. As if he had read my thoughts, he looked beside me at the table and nodded, moving towards me.

We took what we found and moved back to attach the staff's hands to prevent them from doing anything, Minho was still pointing the gun at them.

"You're never going to get away with this!" The black woman, Crawford, had her eyes looking straight at Newt as he attached her. I kept my my disdain to myself, memories of Aris and Rachel stabbing my heart like a knife.

"Guys..." the black kid trailed off with an under lying tone of panick.

I walked towards him. Armed guards were coming towards the place we were caged in. Bad news!

"They're coming!" I yelled as the guy looked at me in panic. "What do we do?!"

My gaze traveled to Newt and Minho's. A glint passed in Newt's eyes as he moved his pretty lips to speak. "Block everything!"

The guy and me moved away quickly as Newt punched a small table on the floor and pushed it towards the door together with Minho. Seconds later, the guards appeared outside through the glass doors, heavily covered by their vests.

"Stand back!" called Mihno. Newt, seeing as I was still close to the door, took me by the arms and pushed me back towards him, behind Mihno. His breath flew over my face, warm and sweet.

My cheeks reddened as his brown eyes examined me, admiring my awful scars.

One guard strived himself against the door, making both Newt and me blink. It was nor the place, nor the moment, as the alarm could still be heard through the whole place, and we were still being pushed backward, Mihno pointing the gun towards the door where the guards would invade at any moment, though they were still trying to force it open.

Yet, something was happening, something extraordinary that revived my memories...

In a way, Newt's presence felt reassuring, even in such a situation.

Still terrorised, our group moved backwards towards Thomas and the girl. Newt didn't let go of my arm and Minho continued to scream dangerously, his gun ready to shot at the first person who'd dare enter.

My heartbeat quickened in fear as I saw the guards slowly trying to force the door open, even if it were a few centimeters. Newt's fingers tightened on my arms, but they didn't hurt me. Whatever was happening between the both of us, I wasn't the only one feeling it: He felt it too.

"Break this damn glass!"

Thomas, who had been pacing out, took a nearby chair and slammed it against the giant glass that separated this room and another. The black guy helped him and took whatever they could find and continued to try to break the glass.

I gulped when I saw a guard having his half of his body inside the small opening they had created. Until finally, I turned my head in the good moment to see Thomas and the black guy break the seemingly unbreakable glass in a thousands of bits.

An awful nose of crystal raining tickled my ears in an unpleasant way, and Newt held me closer as I put my hands on my ears for a moment.

Everything was happening too quickly: In a few seconds, Thomas was screaming and Newt was pushing me forwards. I suddenly noticed that the room had gotten darker, as if some of the lights had been cut off, but in my panic, I wasted no more thoughts on it.

"Go, go, go!" Thomas yelled.

Thomas helped the girl, Theresa, as I carefully jumped against what remained of the broken glass, until Newt and the black kid did the same fastly. I gawked. This room looked just like the other, and had a door in the same place. There was another bloody door.

"Minho!"

Turning my head, I realised with dread that Minho was still pointing his arm against an almost entering man, until he turned his body and threw his weapon in Thomas' arms and rushed down to rejoin us.

Thomas, weapon still in hand moved first. "Stay behind me," he ordored as he opened it, but either it was fate mocking us again or just the hazard, he came face to face with an armed man. Contrarily to the others we had seen, this one had his face hidden by a mask: he was the exact replica of a thief.

Before anyone could speak, Thomas had pressed on the trigger, the man went flying on floor immediately, three meters away from us, his members moving like a dead robot. He seemed to have been electrocuted.

I winced, my head dizzy. Newt's hand was still on my arm when I tried to shake it off to caress my hair. Noticing it, his hand left my arm, and I glanced at the gaping man on the floor, not suppressing my satisfaction as a small smile covered my lips for a few seconds.

"Shit," Thomas muttered, his voice not betraying his suprise before we started running.

This path was clear, with white corridors that brightened our way.

"The exit's here!" Thomas yelled while pointing towards a corridor which ended by a another giant door. He was running faster than us all, making me wonder if he had been a runner in his glade.

"Shit!" Thomas screamed in frustration when the pass he had stolen wouldn't work. I looked n anxiety as Thomas tried again. Where's Aris?

"Thomas," Janson's voice called from behind.

We froze.

I turned my head to look at him, his army behind him. As soon as Thomas heard him, the boy immediately turned and raised his weapon against the rat, walking towards him with huge steps and showing off his hatred as his weapon made a strong sound. "Open this door, Janson!" he sounded furious.

As if mocking him, Janson quickly raised his hands up in surrender, but kept moving and advancing. "You don't want me to," he said, smiling with assurance.

It was probably the wrong thing to say. Thomas seemed to have completely lost his patience. "Open this door!" he roared like a mad man, anger and fury lacing his voice .

"Listen to me! I tried to protect your life," Janson began a few meters away, his voice echoing, but I could hardly listen to him, as Minho, Newt then me and the other girl tried to unsuccessfully open the door. "The maze is one thing," Janson continued. "... But you kids wouldn't last one day on the scorch. If the elements won't kill you, the kranks will." he seemed to believe in each word he spoke like he was a gifted prophet.

"It's hopeless," I said as I tried to open the door again. I looked at Newt. "It won't open!"

"Thomas, you need to believe me. I only want what's best for you."

Silence.

Thomas's next words made my blood run. "Yeah, and we guess WICKED is good?"

I gasped.

Janson's face fell rather comically, as his hands came down to his side slowly. With a cruel smile, he simply said: "You'll never get to that door, Thomas."

Instantly, there was a sound of something heavy being lifted out behind us, and the door we had been trying to get past opened itself, revealing Aris and the guy with a big nose, Winston.

Aris looked at me, his face all red. "Hi, guys!"

I felt the tears in my eyes as I immediately ran towards him. "Aris!"

"You're safe, Aris," I hugged him tightly, relieved. I sent a quick glance at the Winston guy. "Thank you," he nodded back at me.

I heard Thomas shot at Janson a few times until his weapon abandoned him. Then, in frustration, the boy threw his weapon at Janson and his army with fastened moves that revealed his anger. But in the same moment, the door Aris and Winston had just opened began to close.

I widened my scared eyes. "Run!" I yelled with emotions.

"Run!"

I saw, even at my distance, the determination in his eyes as he moved his body towards us, though the door was almost at midway to close. I had never see such a glint before, not even in Aris' nor Harriet's strong eyes.

Something incredible happened. When the door was almost closed, Thomas had the brilliant idea on slipping on the floor, he passed under the opening as it was closing.

As soon as the door was closed, Aris destroyed something near it, probably the place the pass had to be put in.

Thomas, helped out by Newt and Minho, glanced in time towards Janson as his smiling-but angry-face appeared in the glass-door.

In that moment, Thomas did something I would always give him respect for: he stuck up his middle finger at Janson's face, much more to the last's chagrin.

"You're insane!"

Adrenaline ran in my veins, as I looked at Thomas; our new leader.

Wasting no time, the running started back, and we re-discovered the entrance of WICKED under the alarms' still not stopping sounds.

Beside me, Newt and Aris were running, followed by Minho and Thomas who ended up distancing us. Opening the giant door we had all first entered this place by, Thomas allowed the blue night with its soft sand and traitorous wind to caress our skin.

Free, we were gone, running away, towards a new departure, away from WICKED; maybe towards the truth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's all! I hope you liked it. 
> 
> If there is anyway to ameliorate the story, don't hesitate to tell me! I happily welcome criticism, especially on my grammar. Please, drop a little review or some kudos for me ;)
> 
> Good bye!


	3. Dry and Warm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After running away from Janson and his men, the group and Gladys discover they might not be alone after all...

Despite the warmth of the sand, the air was colder than anything I had ever felt: It was strong, and heavy, like an invisible colossal wall that slowed down my movements while I crawled. But if there were something that really stressed me, it wasn't the wind: It was the far away shouts and light behind. They wouldn't give up.

I coughed. Sand had entered my nose and mouth.

"Keep on moving!"

Before me, Thomas was urging the girl, Teresa, to move. Winston, the black guy, Minho and Newt followed, leaving Aris and me far behind them.

I could hear them, I could feel them trying to find us in the night. Whatever way they'd find, they'd use it. The few lights emitted by the giant building we had run away from cleared down a tiny bit of the path that expected us.

I suppressed a scream, panick eating the back of my stomach. Growls of fast vehicles roared behind like screaming animals; a reminder of what we were trying to escape.

"We'll lose them in the storm!" Thomas somewhat yelled.

"Aris!" I looked at my right, with a wince at how strong the wind was, to see if he were still beside me. My friend sent me a fleeting glance, and fastened his steps as I imitated him, trying to delete the distance that had been created between the group and us.

They were running, and I hurried myself to catch up to them, until I arrived at Winston's level.

Even though the horizon was dark, I could make out some forms and shadows in the obscurity; they looked like abandoned ruins and were at ten or twenty meters away, but with the storm of sand, I couldn't really be sure, until one of us decided to run faster.

"Teresa!" Thomas cried. "We all need to stay together!"

She had distanced Thomas and Minho from five good meters, running towards the ruins.

"I think we've lost her!" Someone, probably Minho, said.

I inhaled deeply, but coughed again, sand slowing me down. I glanced at Aris, who was just beside me, then at Newt, who was more in the front.

The sand became deeper, like a hill, and I almost fell, before Aris took hold of my arm.

"Careful! The sand's slipping and deep!"

"As if I didn't know!"

I hadn't meant for my voice to be so dry, but lack of water was hurting.

"Hey, watch out!" Thomas said as I ran into him, almost colliding with him. "Sorry!"

I was breathless. I was tired. I wanted to sit down and sleep. I wanted to forget it all.

Rachel.

We had forgotten about her.

"Where the hell are we going?" Minho groaned.

How could we have forgotten about her?

"Wait, wait!"

Distracted by my emotions, my muscles weren't following anymore. Another slope came up, and I fell over with a shriek, my body sprawling on the sand. Grains spangled my dirty clothes and my short brown hair.

I coughed again when I made a move to get up, only to put my hand over my face. I felt warm, way too warm. The sand had made my throat drier than ever.

"Shit," someone, probably Minho again, hissed.

Thomas immediately stopped on his tracks and turned on his feet to come at my rescue, but Aris and Newt were already helping me out as I spat sand. I panted, and coughed a second time, I had almost gotten asphyxiated. It felt like a ball was trapped between my mouth and my esophagus.

"She needs water!" Newt, whose hands were on my back, yelled over Thomas whose eyes widened.

"Guys, here!"

Away, Minho and the others were penetrating the abandoned ruins, though my vision was completely blurry. I coughed while Aris was touching my hair in a reassuringly gesture.

"Let's get her over there!" Thomas exclaimed.

Aris and Newt took each of my arms, and raised me to my feet as Thomas showed them the way. They helped me walk until we entered the ruins, darkness and silence dominating the strange atmosphere. From where I was walking, I noticed it looked more like a former mall or airport.

"Be careful to the broken glasses! There could be remains!"

"Get down here, guys!" Minho yelled from down.

Wincing as much as I could, I struggled to move my feet as the way went deeper and deeper. Aris and Newt moved slowly, though Thomas rushed down to rejoin his friends.

"Does it hurt a lot?" Aris asked me.

"It's fine," I lied. My throat was awfully dry. I needed water, or I would pass out. And I still had sand burning my eyes and blurring my vision.

Someone lit up a torch bellow in the same time we arrived. Newt released my arm and went to Minho, taking something from the bag the Asian had brought with him. He didn't really react when he felt Newt beside him, but seemed taken aback by what the light was showing: tons of ruined shops and debris of every sort were covering the ground. Dust was being swept by the bit of wind that came up from the broken glasses all above and behind us.

Exhausted, I blinked and let a few tears fall on my clothes, my legs followed as I sat down, leading Aris down with me.

"What the hell..." he muttered beside me, looking at the ruined buildings.

Newt came back with a bottle of water. I raised my gaze at him as he opened the bottle and helped me drink. I closed my eyes at the fantastic and refreshing feeling. My dry throat stopped hurting slowly.

"Thank you," I said with a deep breath, cleaning my hands with the clean spots of my clothes to wipe my eyes.

"Where the hell are we?" Minho muttered. I could see the shock in his eyes as he turned around, his stare immediately connecting with Thomas's.

After an expectant look, the guy only narrowed his eyes. "We gonna go."

"No," the girl, Teresa spoke with impatience. "Stop, Thomas!"

Thomas and Teresa exchanged a look. She stared back at him, her expression impassable, her voice strong. "Tell me what's going on!"

After a few seconds of hesitation, Thomas answered. "It's... WICKED. They lied to us. We never escaped."

I closed my eyes, still not believing all that had happened.

"With Aris, we've found some bodies. Too many to count-"

"What?"

Thomas stopped, and looked at me, his expression indecipherable, though he looked perplexed. I breathed, and turned my head towards Aris' face. "Did you find Rachel?"

He gulped, and said nothing for a few seconds, hesitating. "I..."

"Were... They dead?" Minho asked out of the blue.

Thomas shook his head, though he was still staring at Aris and me. "No, but they weren't alive either. They were... Strung up. I think there's something in us that WICKED wants."

"You found Rachel," I said with a broken voice, tears fallling again as my voice became purely pathetic. "You've found her, but you didn't even tell me, and left her there?" my voice became weak with each word.

"Gladys," Thomas addressed me, taking a few steps towards me. "I don't... There was nothing we could do," he said, his voice sad and empathic. He must have lost a lot more friends before coming here than what I had originally thought. "We had very few time, and we almost got found by Janson and..." he clenched his fists in complete frustration. "After that, we both rushed to warn you..."

"I am sorry."

I looked away, Newt's stare hot on my shoulders as Aris avoided mine. Sadness overcame me. I wanted to faint.

There was a great deal of silence, until Newt spoke up.

"So what's the plan now?" he asked Thomas who retreated from a few steps after Newt had gotten up. He looked at Thomas expectantly. "You have a plan, right?"

Thomas didn't answer.

The blond widened his eyes, his face ravaged by immediate anger and disbelief that slipped into his voice. "We've followed you out, and now you say you have no idea where to go or what to do?!"

Thomas didn't react and raised down his gaze. Minho groaned somewhere, and Newt put his hands on his head, frustration rolling off of him like waves.

"Wait," Aris spoke up.

I tensed.

"Janson said something about... People hiding on the mounts. Some kind of resistance or army."

"He's right," Thomas murmured slowly. "If they're really against WICKED, maybe they can help us!"

Newt exhaled, his furious gaze fixed on Thomas as he raised his eyebrows at him in a comical gesture. "People? On the mount?" he began, astonished, as if the idea were a joke. "Mount people? That's your plan?" he asked incredulously.

Thomas looked up at him "It's the only chance we have."

"We'll never be able to do this," I murmured suddenly, trying to make my voice sound less emotional as I raised myself from the ground to face the group of runners. I could still remember the terror of the maze, but there was worse things.

"But, if they're against WICKED-"

I cut Thomas off, my eyes darkening. The hope I had been feeling until now had disappeared like a bird that took its flight and had been remplaced by fear and indiscutable reality. "Did you just forget where we've escaped from? Remind yourself of how many means WICKED has. I don't remember but..." I trailed off with a worried gulp, some blurry images swimming in front of my eyes as I raised my gaze to meet his.

With a few steps, I walked towards Thomas and Newt. "When I left my maze with my friends at the end of the trials, a girl I knew had regained all of her memories. She said something had happened to the world; the sun, the disease, the flare. WICKED isn't just an organisation: it's the coalition of the governments that survived to the flare: Egypt, France, England, Japon, South Korea, America, Brazil, and only a few others."

Silence followed my words, as I felt everyone's eyes stare at me. Mine were still wet from tears, moistening my eyelashes.

My heart was beating so fast, probably from those sudden despair and worry that were increasing in me by the seconds. But no matter how much I tried, I couldn't control the effect it had on my trembling voice. "They're... trying to find a cure because we're immune; we're not contaminated by the flare. It doesn't affect us. They probably took us away from our families."

"And they'll stop at nothing to have us back, Thomas."

"I-"

"If there's really a resistance, I highly doubt they have as much means as WICKED, nor are they more numerous. Besides, the few rations of food we have brought with us won't allow us to last for three days."

It was stronger than me, this need to let all of this escape my mouth. It was all I felt: My despair, my realism, my fears.

"We can try!" Thomas insisted, his voice raising an octave louder, the hope that had left me seemed to have been transmitted into his hazel eyes. Was the true color of the sun as yellow as the few freckles in them? "If we give up now, then every single person that has died, that we held dear will have died for nothing. I've lost too many friends to give up half-way!"

"Thomas," Teresa tried to come closer to him. She sent me a curious glance which I completely ignored.

"Hey, guys," Winston's perplexed voice suddenly rang in the air. "Maybe ya'd want to check this! Minho, bring me some light."

I breathed deeply, my eyes overlooking the amount of sand as Minho used the small torch and walked towards Winston, followed by the rest of us.

I didn't regret what I had said. It was the truth. Why living for a dangerous hope that would lead to more despair? As we were right now, we had no chance to win this.

I avoided Aris with a blink and walked beside the black guy, just beside Minho. He knelt down next to Winston, the torch illuminating the sand.

A few traces of what looked like human steps were drawning in the sand. It wasn't just a few of them; there were everywhere and seemed to come from different pair of shoes.

"Someone's been down here," remarked Winston.

Who'd ever come here? Had people run away from WICKED before we tried?

Minho got up and moved forward, exploring more of this place with his torch. There were tons of different destroyed shops, which really made me wonder if this place had been a mall. Minho came across a shop with dusted ruined windows. His eyes suddenly brightened. "Let's open this up!"

As soon said, as soon done.

I coughed again at the amount of dust that reigned in the air. Minho's torch brought a bit of light, enlightening broken glasses and lots of necessities.

Following the group, I took a torch myself and lit it up. I was amazed that it still worked properly. "It looks like people lived here."

"But how much time?" Minho asked me as he lifted some ruined clothes with his hands.

"A long time ago, I suppose," I said hesitantly. "These things still work, though." I pointed at the torches with a grim face.

Something seemed to be off here.

"Where are they now?" Newt asked.

"Take anything you think you may need," Thomas spoke up, wrapping a jacket around his shoulders.

I inhaled, but coughed with weakness again. Instantly, light burnt my face, blinding my eyes like the light of the sun. "Hey," I whined. "Take this away from me."

"Sorry," Newt almost giggled. The action made my heart beat. There was it again, this impossible feeling that I had already met him before.

"Let's split up," Thomas proposed, a serious expression on his face. "Let's see what we can find and meet up back here."

I was wondering if getting seperated was really a good idea, until I looked at Aris for a moment.

I wouldn't forgive him. He had given up Rachel when he could have saved her.

Shaking my head intentionally, Aris dropped his gaze, while I directed mine at Newt's strong back. It felt as if he sensed it, because he immediately turned his body around to look at me, a slow and tentative smile on his face.

Trusting my instincts, I moved towards him with a shy smile of my own. He didn't seem to mind, as we explored the ruined shop together, while Aris, Winston, Thomas and Minho got out, propably to see what they'd find elsewhere.

"It looks like there were more than a dozen people living here," I stated, looking at destroyed mastresses and clothes. The flare had probably forced people to go down here. But this place was so dusty it looked like no one had came down since decades.

"Probably," the black guy, whom I had discovered was named Frypan, continued. "But... Where did they get all those things?" he asked, pointing at some tin cans on a counter.

I widened my eyes. "Newt!"

He was behind me, his back facing mine as he stared in fascination at what looked like a former book of literature. It was so dusty the title wouldn't be readable. "Look at this," I said when he gave me his attention.

He moved a few steps towards me, his torch illuminating the cans. "They haven't been opened. Do you think they're still edible?"

"I think so. As long as it hasn't been opened and contaminated by whatever, it can last years. They never perish, and if they ever do, you'll notice it through the smell. The expiration dates were nothing but to force people to consume," I stated.

Frypman and Newt froze and looked at me. "What?"

Newt blinked. "Nothing. You just seem to know quite a bit about how people lived before the..."

"The flare?"

He nodded slowly, his brown eyes fixed on me. I didn't know if he had noticed or if it had been deliberate, but his torch's light was on my body. Thankfully this time, it was away from my face. "Yes."

I sighed, bringing my fingers to push a strand of oily hair away from my eyes. "Honestly... I don't know. I have a few memories of the before, but it's not that much."

"Example?" Frypman asked with mood.

I exhaled, directing my body away from Newt's to take some cans, my arms lifting up to have them in my hand. They were cold and didn't seem to have been opened, though they were covered in dust.

I put them in a bag I had found some minutes ago. They'd be welcome in food rations. "I know my age: seventeen; and I can remember a mall where I think I used to go as a child, though I am not sure."

I stopped, and turned. Newt hadn't moved from an inch. He was staring at me intensely. "Do you remember how you lived before?"

I pursed my lips, my teeth eating at them. Newt's eyes followed the gesture in a rather strange way. "I don't... I only remember the mall, as cliche as it sounds."

A sad smile covered my lips for a few seconds. For once, a bit of happiness had embraced my chest. It had been so long...

A shriek assaulted my ears not far away and I winced, gasping.

It had come from the girl, Teresa.

"You're alright?" Newt asked her.

She was in what looked like a sort a back shop to this one. The windows were broken so she immediately was in my sight, I just had to turn my head to spot her.

Fleetly, she stole a glance at us and promptly turned her head away, she seemed tensed and bothered by something. I frowned worriedly. What was wrong with this girl?

"I am fine," she answered quicker than needed.

"Hey," Frypman called to us. "Do you think it's potable?"

Trying to erase the slight anxiety I was feeling, I ignored Teresa's existence as both Newt and I moved closed to Frypman. He'd found huge packs of water.

"That's hard to tell." I looked at them. "Taking a gulp would be the only way to know."

He groaned. "Seriously."

"Wait, let me try it."

Newt sat on the dirty floor, his hands came to take off the stopper before letting a bit of water fall on his gourd.

I sat up with an anxious frown, my hands placed on my face as I curiously stared at Newt drinking down a few sips. Three centimeters were the only space that prevented our thighs from touching.

He looked at me, a relieved expression on his face. "It's good. Wanna try it?"

"No, thanks," I said as I lifted myself from the ground. I had drunk enough water as it was. Besides, I needed to... Do more private stuff.

I walked a few steps and tried to find a place as clean as possible.

"Gladys, where are you going?" Newt asked. I detected a hint of worry in his voice.

"Just trying to find some clean clothes." It wasn't entirely false.

"Shout if you see anything," Frypman winked.

With a sigh, I took off some papers I had stolen at WICKED and entered the WC. It was some twenty meters away from where I had left Newt and Frypman, in what had been a fast food. It wasn't that clean but it was much better than nothing. I had even found some cleaning wipes.

"Did you find any clothes?" Frypman asked with laugher when I came back.

"Not really."

"Wait," Newt spoke up, getting up. He took something from his bag. "I found this while you were away, maybe it'll suit you."

A pair of black jeans.

An immediate grin brightened my face. My eyes sparkled when I saw him blush furiously.

Frypman raised an amused eyebrow at his friend.

"Thanks, Newt. It's more than enough."

He nodded with a smile.

I wasn't exactly slim but it could be my height. I walked behind the counter on which I had found the cans and changed clothes there, my back facing the boys as I turned around.

All of a sudden, orange light appeared in the room from the ceiling, and I let out a quick surprised yell. Slowly, each place my eyes could allow me to see was bathed in intense, maybe too intense, light. Newt and Frypman had gotten up quickly. And out of the corners of my eyes, through the windows, I saw Aris walking just at the shop's entry.

I headed towards Newt and Frypman once I was finished. The light was illuminating the whole place, and I could see shops and spots I hadn't been able to see before. Thankfully, to see such a cold and dark place be drown in a sudden light when it had been all black wasn't hurting my eyes like it would.

Newt, now clothed by a brown jacket and a bag, blinked, then looked at Frypman and me as we headed out the shop.

I shook my head, unable to understand.

Teresa was already out. Aris was here too.

"What's going on?" I asked nervously as Winston's body came up walking fastly. My heart was tormenting me again by beating faster with each second that followed.

Aris and Teresa began to look around the place.

"I don't know," Winston answered.

A vivid scream resounded behind us, making my heart go wild in its race. The scream burnt my ears and I recognised Thomas' horrified voice.

All heads, including mine, turned into the direction from where it had come.

Thomas was running faster than when he had run over the almost closing door of WICKED, with the same gleam in his eyes. His expression showed terror and astonishment as he yelled at us to run away. With horror, I noticed, not far behind, Minho, running too, his teeth clenched against each other, panick and fear written all over both their faces.

"RUN!"

As panick intensified in my stomach, awful growls not far behind from where Thomas and Minho had come echoed loudly. A few strolling human-looking forms appeared, and I shrieked in disgust, covering my mouth with my hand.

"Go!" Minho screamed at the top of his lungs, his voice breathless, trying to reach us like a hand that would push us far away.

I widened my eyes and began panting, apprehension and fear made me itch my fingers as I could feel intense stress in the back of my stomach, like a tsunami on a city.

My feet wanted to move, to run, but the sight there kept me locked in place for a few seconds, until hearing the others move their feet away to save their lives had me finally react.

"Shit!" Newt exclaimed beside me with astonishment and an ugly grimace.

That was the last thing I needed to run, sprint and try to save myself.

"Get out of here!" Thomas yelled crazily.

The maze. The grievers. The scars. Aris. Rachel. Harriet. Sonya. Mary.

Who was Mary?

Pushed by these uncontrollable feelings and images that haunted me, I ran faster than I had ever run, faster than the maze, faster than in WICKED, faster than I could ever remember.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey! Thanks for reading! Don't forget to drop a little review for me, please :) 
> 
> I hope you liked this chapter. 
> 
> See you soon!


	4. Revelation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lost in a destroyed town, Gladys and the group face some complications...

My heart's heartbeats, which were increasing by the seconds, had become so loud that I felt like the ground below me was shaking. A disturbing, awful feeling traveled from my stomach to my chest.

No one dared to say a thing. Even Aris, who had been discreetly listening to our conversation, was looking away.

I couldn't believe those words. I couldn't believe what Thomas had just said.

I refused to believe it.

WICKED had taken so much away from me. How could Thomas have any memory of my working with them? After the hell that they had put me through?

"No," I breathed. In all the few blurry images I'd had, I never had one where I had been planning to kill people for a cure. None.

Thomas remained silent for a moment. "I... Listen, Gladys," he said when I felt Newt tighten his hold on my shoulder tentatively. "Remember what you've just said? All the information you've told us about the flare? If you're not linked to WICKED," he marked a quick pause. "There's no way you would know all this stuff. How do you even know so much?"

"That has nothing to with it!" I suddenly snapped. "When my friends and I escaped from our maze, one of us had regained her memory before we ended up in a room where there were death bodies everywhere and-"

"Just like our maze," Minho's voice cut me off. I flashed him a blank look. He was definitely awake, his eyes deep in thought as he sat down next to Newt. He turned his head towards me, Thomas eyeing us. "It was the same for us: death bodies, and a video of a blond woman explaining what had happened to the world."

I gaped at him, widening my eyes.

"The same thing happened to us," I muttered, turning over Thomas.

"This alone," he spoke. "Doesn't explain why you know so much."

My throat became dry, and it wasn't until I had put them on my lap that I realised that my hands were trembling.

Why was I always thinking of the flare? Why did I think I knew so much because of the video, when it had only given a short introduction of the world's state?

"No," I paled, moving my legs to get up.

I felt hideous, more than the scars on my skin had ever made me feel.

"Gladys-"

"No!" My heart was hurting, hurting.

I didn't want to think about it. I didn't want to think about it!

Before Newt could stop me, I slapped his hands away and was running.

The sun was shining bright in the blue sky, burning both my eyes and my skin. I breathed slowly, tired by the heat and the warm air. I tried to avoid the rocks and stones on the path as best as I could but eventually, I would touch one, and they'd burn me.

Thomas, as usual, was leading the whole group.

"What the hell," Minho exclaimed with shock. When the place before us had been all ground and rocks, it was all sand now. Like an ancient desert that had destroyed life. Tons of destroyed huge buildings drew themselves at the horizon, trash colouring sand like fishes in the sea. These were the traces of a lost city.

"What the hell happened in this place?"

"I don't know," Newt answered Frypan, observing the surroundings with attentive eyes. "It doesn't look like anyone has been here in a long time."

As I walked, I myself couldn't stop looking at the cars and other things. It was as if time had stopped for humanity, as if we had gone exctinct.

"I really hope the rest of the world isn't like this," Aris said.

Still taken aback by such a sight, I stayed silent. In any of things I remembered seeing, I had never seen such destruction until today. It shocked me, but also impressed me.

"Stop right here, wait!"

I turned over, watching Thomas as he suddenly stopped walking, a puzzled expression on his face as he raised his brows in concentration. "You heard that?"

Blinking, I shyly glanced over at Newt, who was frowning. Trying to erase the sound of the wind, I concentrated on my earing to try to hear what Thomas was hearing Thomas.

Not far away, very close even, the wind growled like a mechanical bird. Doubt washed over me as I watched the sky, a hint of apprehension hit me. The glaring sun made it harder. The sound, though, didn't disappear and got stronger.

Thomas caught my eyes in panick. "Get down! Everybody hide!"

Everybody began looking around for a place to hide. There were giant debris at less than a meter, which probably used to be some wall or something like that. It created the shape of a big hidding spot above the ground, like an umbrella. "Here!" I shouted over, pointing at it. Thomas and everybody else rushed under it. In the same instant, something flew over high in the sky.

Raising my gaze, I fixed my eyes towards the sound's direction. A few helicopters flew above us.

I clutched my hands, my back facing Newt and Teresa.

They hadn't seen us.

"They'll never stop looking for us, won't they?" Minho asked, watching the ships fly away in the sky. His voice sounded tired.

I sighed, before imitating Thomas and getting up. Everyone was tired. The maze had been hardship enough, what we had lived yesterday with the... The creatures had been enough too. But, even as I looked obove at the retreating machines, I couldn't help but wonder if I'd ever find peace in such a world.

"A bit more, guys," Thomas shouted over to us.

I walked forwards against the heat, until we arrived at the top of the dunes. Nothing was different from what we had seen until now, unless the bridge at the far of our sight was an exception.

"Shit."

Minho looked at me from the corner of his eyes, touching his face to take off sweat.

"Those mounts. That's gonna be it," Thomas said. "We need to go there."

"It's a long way off," Newt told him. Looking at him, I noticed that he didn't seem very eager to walk so far away. No one wanted to.

I breathed, aspiring as much air as I could. The sun was glaring at us so hard it felt like I couldn't breathe as much as I wanted to.

"That's why we should immediately start to get moving."

"We've been already moving for hours, Thomas," I stated dryly before I could stop myself.

Before, when we had been at WICKED's, I had thought I was making a new life, but now, I only felt like nothing had changed. I had trusted Thomas and his friends, but the recent discovery I had made made me doubt more and more. I wouldn't stop thinking about it. Like an injury that would continuously hurt me.

Thomas glanced at Minho and me. Teresa's eyes bore into my side, but I ignored her. Contrarily to the others, I had barely spoken to her. For a reason I didn't know, she was keeping her distances. But I was appreciating it. There was something really strange with that girl.

"Come on, Gladys," Aris murmured, his hand trying to reach mine. I vividly ignored him. Just as I was about to let out a sigh, a silhouette fainted just next to me, making me shriek.

"Winston!"

Winston's body sprawled on the sand. When we rushed next to him, he was beathing heavily, his eyes were closed, as if life was giving up on him.

It is. A small voice whispered in my head.

I instantly blinked but nothing left me time to react.

"He's hurt pretty bad!"

"What do we do?" Theresa asked.

Thomas briefly glanced at her before looking back at Winston with pursed lips.

I put my hand on Winston's hair, but my eyes rolled over towards his wound. Lot of blood was coming out, and Winston's face showed nothing but agony. He was sweating, his eyes opening and closing simultaneously. Only listening to his breathing made me think he'd never last long.

Suddenly, Thomas came next to Winston. "We'll have to carry him."

"Come on," I said. "Let's do this."

Both Frypan and Minho came to help me position Winston, while the others took whatever they could find on the sand to make something that could carry him.

Frypan and Minho were the first to haul him through our walking.

"Look at that," I said, pointing to the sky in front of us. two gigantic towers painted the scene. Destroyed construction followed soon after.

"That's... New York's bridge..." Newt muttered.

I swallowed, and we continued our journey. Hours had passed since Winston had fallen over, and carrying him around got more and more complicated. We had to reposition him on the fake bed we'd made numerous times.

"Gotta find a shelter!" Thomas said through gritted teeth.

"How?" I yelled over the wind. "There's nothing but dirt and broken houses here!"

"The wind will slow down in a time!" Thomas answered then. "We have to keep up until then!"

I didn't know what time it was. I couldn't even care anymore. What I knew was that the wind had finally stopped. This allowed us to take some rest, and to set Winston down.

"Thank you."

Minho nodded when I took the bottle of water from him. We were trying not to run out of the supplies we'd collected, but it was a near-impossible task to perform.

Even the water running down my throat wasn't cold enough to make me forget the unbearable heat.

"How is he?"

Frypan gulped. "Not sure about it."

I swallowed.

Winston wasn't going to make it.

Something began to circle my heart, pressing hardly against it. When the first tear fell down my cheek, I knew it was sadness. I didn't have the right to be sad; I didn't even know Winston, but his imminent death was making me cry softly as if a close friend of mine was dying.

A noise to my right made me dry my tears quickly and hand over the bottle to Frypan. Theresa had gotten up and was walking towards Thomas. The both of them were exchanging a few words before Newt's voice broke the silence:

"How does it look?"

"A little further!" Thomas answered.

Newt's body turned for him to look at us. His eyebrows were raised and lips pursed; a small smile was opening them. "That's not very convincing, eh?"

Minho took another sip from the bottle as Newt came to sit beside me.

"Do you want more?"

"No, thank you, I am good."

Far in front of me, Theresa and Thomas were talking. For some reasons I couldn't know, I was unable to get my gaze off of them. It felt like a deja-vue scene from somewhere. Like I had already lived this moment. Then, Theresa began to use her hands as she was speaking. It looked like they were more having an argument than anything else.

A gunshot broke me out of my thoughts.

I squealed and got up, quickly looked at my right, where the noise had come from.

"Winston! What are you doing, man?! Give me that!"

I blinked, and felt my heartbeat getting faster. In the same time, Teresa and Thomas were coming back, running.

"What's happened?!"

Winston was spread on all four, breathing with difficulty.

"I don't know!" Frypan answered. "He just woke and grabbed the gun and tried-"

Seeing Winston in such a state, his eyes red, his tanned skin pale, made take a few steps backwards. Thomas tried to get closer to him, but the moment he did, Winston vomited a pool of blood. He coughed more, and fell on his back.

Thomas went closer again, but a primitive instinct made me take his wrist in my hand to stop him. The brown haired guy looked at me, his eyes as confused as mine.

"It's growing..." Winston began weakly. And then, he touched his shirt to let us see his belly. "Inside of me..."

The way he had ended his sentence made a chill go through me. He sounded terrified, terrified of what was going to happen next.

And we all knew why.

Aris looked at me, his eyes scared too. We had seen it. Seen what had happened to those guys who had caught the flare.

"I'm not gonna make it..." he said softly. His eyes were closed, he was barely breathing.

Barely alive.

"Please," he murmured. "Don't... Let me turn into of them. Please."

After a few minutes of silence, Newt took a few steps towards the poor Winston. His eyes were closed, his tanned skin covered by sweat as Newt took the gun from Frypan.

I watched all of this with a ragging heart. Winston was dying. Dying from such an abominable death. I was so angry, and I didn't even really know him, but still, seeing him die like this made me feel. Made me cry in giref and tremble with rage. So much rage, that my grip around Thomas' hand must have tightened, but the guy didn't react.

He was feeling the same.

"Newt..."

The blond quietly knelt beside Winston, and put the gun in his hands. A weak "thank you" could be heard.

Everyone started walking away at an agonizing pace from the deceasing Winston. My hand didn't leave Thomas' wrist.

Not a single word was needed. None.

Not even when we heard the gunshot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I am so, so soooooorry for such a long wait! Life can be so busy!
> 
> If you have advices or see grammatical mistakes, I will be very happy to read them in a review! Thanks for reading :)
> 
> See you soon!
> 
> -PiscesRain.


	5. Gunshot

My heart's heartbeats, which were increasing by the seconds, had become so loud that I felt like the ground below me was shaking. A disturbing, awful feeling traveled from my stomach to my chest.

No one dared to say a thing. Even Aris, who had been discreetly listening to our conversation, was looking away.

I couldn't believe those words. I couldn't believe what Thomas had just said.

I refused to believe it.

WICKED had taken so much away from me. How could Thomas have any memory of my working with them? After the hell that they had put me through?

"No," I breathed. In all the few blurry images I'd had, I never had one where I had been planning to kill people for a cure. None.

Thomas remained silent for a moment. "I... Listen, Gladys," he said when I felt Newt tighten his hold on my shoulder tentatively. "Remember what you've just said? All the information you've told us about the flare? If you're not linked to WICKED," he marked a quick pause. "There's no way you would know all this stuff. How do you even know so much?"

"That has nothing to with it!" I suddenly snapped. "When my friends and I escaped from our maze, one of us had regained her memory before we ended up in a room where there were death bodies everywhere and-"

"Just like our maze," Minho's voice cut me off. I flashed him a blank look. He was definitely awake, his eyes deep in thought as he sat down next to Newt. He turned his head towards me, Thomas eyeing us. "It was the same for us: death bodies, and a video of a blond woman explaining what had happened to the world."

I gaped at him, widening my eyes.

"The same thing happened to us," I muttered, turning over Thomas.

"This alone," he spoke. "Doesn't explain why you know so much."

My throat became dry, and it wasn't until I had put them on my lap that I realised that my hands were trembling.

Why was I always thinking of the flare? Why did I think I knew so much because of the video, when it had only given a short introduction of the world's state?

"No," I paled, moving my legs to get up.

I felt hideous, more than the scars on my skin had ever made me feel.

"Gladys-"

"No!" My heart was hurting, hurting.

I didn't want to think about it. I didn't want to think about it!

Before Newt could stop me, I slapped his hands away and was running.

The sun was shining bright in the blue sky, burning both my eyes and my skin. I breathed slowly, tired by the heat and the warm air. I tried to avoid the rocks and stones on the path as best as I could but eventually, I would touch one, and they'd burn me.

Thomas, as usual, was leading the whole group.

"What the hell," Minho exclaimed with shock. When the place before us had been all ground and rocks, it was all sand now. Like an ancient desert that had destroyed life. Tons of destroyed huge buildings drew themselves at the horizon, trash colouring sand like fishes in the sea. These were the traces of a lost city.

"What the hell happened in this place?"

"I don't know," Newt answered Frypan, observing the surroundings with attentive eyes. "It doesn't look like anyone has been here in a long time."

As I walked, I myself couldn't stop looking at the cars and other things. It was as if time had stopped for humanity, as if we had gone exctinct.

"I really hope the rest of the world isn't like this," Aris said.

Still taken aback by such a sight, I stayed silent. In any of things I remembered seeing, I had never seen such destruction until today. It shocked me, but also impressed me.

"Stop right here, wait!"

I turned over, watching Thomas as he suddenly stopped walking, a puzzled expression on his face as he raised his brows in concentration. "You heard that?"

Blinking, I shyly glanced over at Newt, who was frowning. Trying to erase the sound of the wind, I concentrated on my earing to try to hear what Thomas was hearing Thomas.

Not far away, very close even, the wind growled like a mechanical bird. Doubt washed over me as I watched the sky, a hint of apprehension hit me. The glaring sun made it harder. The sound, though, didn't disappear and got stronger.

Thomas caught my eyes in panick. "Get down! Everybody hide!"

Everybody began looking around for a place to hide. There were giant debris at less than a meter, which probably used to be some wall or something like that. It created the shape of a big hidding spot above the ground, like an umbrella. "Here!" I shouted over, pointing at it. Thomas and everybody else rushed under it. In the same instant, something flew over high in the sky.

Raising my gaze, I fixed my eyes towards the sound's direction. A few helicopters flew above us.

I clutched my hands, my back facing Newt and Teresa.

They hadn't seen us.

"They'll never stop looking for us, won't they?" Minho asked, watching the ships fly away in the sky. His voice sounded tired.

I sighed, before imitating Thomas and getting up. Everyone was tired. The maze had been hardship enough, what we had lived yesterday with the... The creatures had been enough too. But, even as I looked obove at the retreating machines, I couldn't help but wonder if I'd ever find peace in such a world.

"A bit more, guys," Thomas shouted over to us.

I walked forwards against the heat, until we arrived at the top of the dunes. Nothing was different from what we had seen until now, unless the bridge at the far of our sight was an exception.

"Shit."

Minho looked at me from the corner of his eyes, touching his face to take off sweat.

"Those mounts. That's gonna be it," Thomas said. "We need to go there."

"It's a long way off," Newt told him. Looking at him, I noticed that he didn't seem very eager to walk so far away. No one wanted to.

I breathed, aspiring as much air as I could. The sun was glaring at us so hard it felt like I couldn't breathe as much as I wanted to.

"That's why we should immediately start to get moving."

"We've been already moving for hours, Thomas," I stated dryly before I could stop myself.

Before, when we had been at WICKED's, I had thought I was making a new life, but now, I only felt like nothing had changed. I had trusted Thomas and his friends, but the recent discovery I had made made me doubt more and more. I wouldn't stop thinking about it. Like an injury that would continuously hurt me.

Thomas glanced at Minho and me. Teresa's eyes bore into my side, but I ignored her. Contrarily to the others, I had barely spoken to her. For a reason I didn't know, she was keeping her distances. But I was appreciating it. There was something really strange with that girl.

"Come on, Gladys," Aris murmured, his hand trying to reach mine. I vividly ignored him. Just as I was about to let out a sigh, a silhouette fainted just next to me, making me shriek.

"Winston!"

Winston's body sprawled on the sand. When we rushed next to him, he was beathing heavily, his eyes were closed, as if life was giving up on him.

It is. A small voice whispered in my head.

I instantly blinked but nothing left me time to react.

"He's hurt pretty bad!"

"What do we do?" Theresa asked.

Thomas briefly glanced at her before looking back at Winston with pursed lips.

I put my hand on Winston's hair, but my eyes rolled over towards his wound. Lot of blood was coming out, and Winston's face showed nothing but agony. He was sweating, his eyes opening and closing simultaneously. Only listening to his breathing made me think he'd never last long.

Suddenly, Thomas came next to Winston. "We'll have to carry him."

"Come on," I said. "Let's do this."

Both Frypan and Minho came to help me position Winston, while the others took whatever they could find on the sand to make something that could carry him.

Frypan and Minho were the first to haul him through our walking.

"Look at that," I said, pointing to the sky in front of us. two gigantic towers painted the scene. Destroyed construction followed soon after.

"That's... New York's bridge..." Newt muttered.

I swallowed, and we continued our journey. Hours had passed since Winston had fallen over, and carrying him around got more and more complicated. We had to reposition him on the fake bed we'd made numerous times.

"Gotta find a shelter!" Thomas said through gritted teeth.

"How?" I yelled over the wind. "There's nothing but dirt and broken houses here!"

"The wind will slow down in a time!" Thomas answered then. "We have to keep up until then!"

I didn't know what time it was. I couldn't even care anymore. What I knew was that the wind had finally stopped. This allowed us to take some rest, and to set Winston down.

"Thank you."

Minho nodded when I took the bottle of water from him. We were trying not to run out of the supplies we'd collected, but it was a near-impossible task to perform.

Even the water running down my throat wasn't cold enough to make me forget the unbearable heat.

"How is he?"

Frypan gulped. "Not sure about it."

I swallowed.

Winston wasn't going to make it.

Something began to circle my heart, pressing hardly against it. When the first tear fell down my cheek, I knew it was sadness. I didn't have the right to be sad; I didn't even know Winston, but his imminent death was making me cry softly as if a close friend of mine was dying.

A noise to my right made me dry my tears quickly and hand over the bottle to Frypan. Theresa had gotten up and was walking towards Thomas. The both of them were exchanging a few words before Newt's voice broke the silence:

"How does it look?"

"A little further!" Thomas answered.

Newt's body turned for him to look at us. His eyebrows were raised and lips pursed; a small smile was opening them. "That's not very convincing, eh?"

Minho took another sip from the bottle as Newt came to sit beside me.

"Do you want more?"

"No, thank you, I am good."

Far in front of me, Theresa and Thomas were talking. For some reasons I couldn't know, I was unable to get my gaze off of them. It felt like a deja-vue scene from somewhere. Like I had already lived this moment. Then, Theresa began to use her hands as she was speaking. It looked like they were more having an argument than anything else.

A gunshot broke me out of my thoughts.

I squealed and got up, quickly looked at my right, where the noise had come from.

"Winston! What are you doing, man?! Give me that!"

I blinked, and felt my heartbeat getting faster. In the same time, Teresa and Thomas were coming back, running.

"What's happened?!"

Winston was spread on all four, breathing with difficulty.

"I don't know!" Frypan answered. "He just woke and grabbed the gun and tried-"

Seeing Winston in such a state, his eyes red, his tanned skin pale, made take a few steps backwards. Thomas tried to get closer to him, but the moment he did, Winston vomited a pool of blood. He coughed more, and fell on his back.

Thomas went closer again, but a primitive instinct made me take his wrist in my hand to stop him. The brown haired guy looked at me, his eyes as confused as mine.

"It's growing..." Winston began weakly. And then, he touched his shirt to let us see his belly. "Inside of me..."

The way he had ended his sentence made a chill go through me. He sounded terrified, terrified of what was going to happen next.

And we all knew why.

Aris looked at me, his eyes scared too. We had seen it. Seen what had happened to those guys who had caught the flare.

"I'm not gonna make it..." he said softly. His eyes were closed, he was barely breathing.

Barely alive.

"Please," he murmured. "Don't... Let me turn into of them. Please."

After a few minutes of silence, Newt took a few steps towards the poor Winston. His eyes were closed, his tanned skin covered by sweat as Newt took the gun from Frypan.

I watched all of this with a ragging heart. Winston was dying. Dying from such an abominable death. I was so angry, and I didn't even really know him, but still, seeing him die like this made me feel. Made me cry in giref and tremble with rage. So much rage, that my grip around Thomas' hand must have tightened, but the guy didn't react.

He was feeling the same.

"Newt..."

The blond quietly knelt beside Winston, and put the gun in his hands. A weak "thank you" could be heard.

Everyone started walking away at an agonizing pace from the deceasing Winston. My hand didn't leave Thomas' wrist.

Not a single word was needed. None.

Not even when we heard the gunshot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I am so, so soooooorry for such a long wait! I know I said I'd come back after summer and all, but things in my life got very complicated with college and adult life.
> 
> When I first started this story, I was really excited for it, mainly because I was stlll a big fan od MRT and James Dashner. I still like MRT movies, though not as much as before. And yes, I've heard about Dashner being involved in the sexual harrassment/assault scandales, and I DO NOT APPROVE of what he's done. I've never liked the books and have always thought the movies were much better.
> 
> This year, I've started watching a few shows that've made me more interested in writing fan fictions about them than continuing this story, but I don't like wiriting more than one story at the time. When I was used to be a PJO writer in my early teen years, I'd done that a lot and it ended up with my deleting my stories as I had lost interest/will to write. I am not making that mistake again.
> 
> Tbh, this chapter has been almost completely written for months, and I just added and edited a few things. I didn't have time to update it sooner.
> 
> I am thinking of updating more, because I really want to write the sequel which happens in the last movie, which I think is much more interesting. If, for some reasons, I can not write more, I will tell you. I promise. My updating time is going to be: every two mondays.
> 
> If you have advices or see grammatical mistakes, I will be very happy to read them in a review!
> 
> Also, thanks to femkesmedinga and PJM 13 for your kind words! I am happy you guys enjoy the story!
> 
> See you soon!
> 
> -PiscesRain.


	6. A New Start

"Gladys! Gladys! Come on, open your eyes!"

Slowly, my conscience started wakening. Something vibrated within me, and I could distinguish noises. A few seconds flew by, and I realised someone was shouting.

"Gladys! Please!" I recognised Aris' voice, and I felt skin on my face, probably hands.

The loud shouts were burning my ears. I opened my eyes, gasping. Then closed them instantly after being blinded by the weak light coming from my right.

"What-What happened?"

Thomas' blurry face appeared in front of my eyes. It looked like he was sighing. Minho answered instead. "We-We were running and you- You got hit by lightening."

"I... What?"

Minho looked away for a moment. "You pushed me out of the way."

I swallowed. Then it hit me. I remembered what had happened.

After...What had happened to Winston, we had stopped to rest. Storms had woken Thomas up and he had managed to get all of us to run for our lives.

Blinking, I looked up into Minho's eyes. They were bright, and I realised I was now able to see clearly. "I-"

"Thank you," the Asian said as Newt and Aris carefully helped me up to my feet. I had almost tripped over Newt while saying welcome to Minho who huffed.

My legs felt strange. There was an odd kind of pain within them. It was like contracting a muscle for too long and with too much intensity.

"Hey, what's that smell?" Theresa asked suddenly.

Not even a second later, she let out a chilling scream that froze me down to the toes. Synchronically, another horrible inhuman scream echoed.

I took a step back, being aware of my surroundings, only to shriek and shout when I realised something had almost succeeded in touching me. Horrified, I bumped against someone.

"GET BACK!" Thomas screamed.

Something tried to move forward towards us, but it was being held back by chains. The thing had ripped clothes on, but there was nothing human about it. Blood was coming from both its eyes and mouth. And then I saw it, and realised it was one of those things.

"I see you've met our guard dogs," a feminine voice said.

Thomas and I exchanged a look. A woman, probably twenty, was coming from the other side where light was clearer. The "guard dogs" tried to touch her too, but the chains held them back.

Her stance seemed relaxed and at ease. She didn't look scared. In fact, she looked quite bored, but a smile drew itself on her lips as she stopped in front of us.

"You guys look like shit."

"This is all your fault, Thomas!" I yelled.

"Nice plan," Minho continued. "Let's see what they have to propose."

"Shut up, Minho!" Thomas groaned, his voice sounding dejected.

"And then they tie us down and treat us like objects," I continued mockingly.

Thomas ignored me.

Anger raced in me at an alluring speed. Thomas's stupid ideas got us trapped and hanging in the air like animals to be feed to monsters. The thought of it increased my rage, my eyes narrowing as I watched the brown-haired boy.

"Maybe I can reach the rope!"

I felt even worse now. Having the world you see turned upside and down was making me mad.

Thomas moaned, trying to move towards said rope.

"It's useless," I shouted. "You're just going to hurt yourself-"

"Enjoying the view?"

I bit my lips. The voice was Jorge's, the man who had decided to sell us back to WICKED. I couldn't see his face, but he was probably smirking. An image of his getting punched into the face by me appeared inside of my mind.

As long as I could remember, ever since I had woken up in the glade, I had never wanted to hurt someone. I had been sad, depressed, had cried. But never wanted to hurt. Even Winston's death, which had made me furious, hadn't made me want to hurt someone physically.

But it seemed Jorge was different.

"What the hell do you want?!" I shouted at him, my voice raising up.

"That is the question," I heard him answer. "My men want to sell you back to WICKED."

Minho growled and I mirrored a scowl.

"Life's taught them to see small." he said after a moment. "I am not like that. Something tells me you're not either."

"Is it the blood running through my head, or is the shit he's saying lacking any sense?" Minho mocked. A part of me thought provoking the man who had our fate in his hand was a bad idea, another thought he totally deserved it.

Jorge didn't hit any of us or cut the chains so we were dead. Instead, he said: "Tell me what you know about the Right Arm."

"I thought you said there were ghosts." Newt shot back.

I could hear the smile in the man's voice as he spoke. "I happen to believe in ghosts... Especially when I hear them chatting on the airways."

Jorge's steps fell back in the distance. "You tell what you know," the man said. "And maybe, we can make a deal."

"...We don't know much."

Suddenly, our chains went down, taking us with them. We screamed, and I mentally cursed Thomas.

"Okay, okay!" Thomas screamed. "They're hiding in the monts. And they attacked WICKED and got out a bunch of kids. That's all we know!"

"Jorge!"

Foosteps echoed. "What's going on?"

"I and my new friends are just getting acquited." the man said cheerfully. "We're done now."

"Wait! You're not gonna help us?"

"Don't worry," the man answered Thomas. "We'll get you back to where you come from. Hang tight!"

He left after that. The other man did the same and went away.

"Thomas," I moaned through my gritted teeth after a while. "Don't you think that something felt off?"

"Yeah," he answered. "But before it's either good or bad for us, let's get out of here!"

"Oh," Newt said as Thomas was moved around himself. "If this is another of your brilliant plans-"

"Got it!" he interrupted Newt. "Theresa, try to come closer!"

"What?"

"Do it! You're the closest to that thing!" he pointed to the strange object that Jorge had probably used as a lever to control the chains.

Theresa seemed to understand what Thomas wanted to do, because she did as Thomas had told her. Finally, she succeeded and got us all down.

"Thanks," I told the girl when she helped Newt get the chains away from my body.

Her gaze was distant and cold. Something flashed in her eyes, something I couldn't name. "You're welcome."

Unfortunately, it was the moment WICKED had chosen to find us.

Janson's ugly voice echoed through the whole building, asking Jorge and his men to give them back their property, us.

"Bloody hell," Newt muttered.

I breathed deeply, shaking my head and pursing my lips. If I ever had the chance to face Janson agan, I would strangle him.

Aris glanced at me, and this time, I glanced back. Though I could never forgive Aris, I couldn't stay mad at him forever. The both of us had been through so much...

"Let's go!" Thomas shouted.

"I don't think so."

We froze. The same man who had approached Jorge before appeared.

"Jorge is such a..." the man swore. "You're not getting away!" he shouted, a crazy tone underlaying his ugly voice.

I eyed him carefully, seeing him push something on a strange machine. "Janson! I've got them all-"

The man gasped and widened his eyes. In one second, he fell over, and behind him, another person came into view.

The girl we had first met coming here. She had a gun in her hand, and a terrified expression on her face. Looking at us, she mentioned the only exit: where she had come from. "Come on!"

When no one moved but looked at her, she hurriedly moved her head. "Come on, let's go!" her voice sounded panicked.

"Come on!" she yelled. "Let's get you out of here."

It's a trap. My mind told me. It's a trap.

Trap or not, was there any other choice?

I remembered Jorge's face as Thomas had told him the bits we knew about the Right Arm. He had looked more than just curious. He had looked completely interested, even enraptured. He'd had the same expression than that of a man who had found hope and treasure.

Biting my lip, I fixed my gaze on the girl's face. She looked scared. She was on a hurry. She was running from something. Her eyes were far from having the same cunning light Janson had had in his.

Pushing my thoughts aside, I began running.

The girl led us through the building's last floor. She was running fast, not as much as a runner but enough to make me wonder if she had received any training.

"What the-" I almost swore as a strange noise invaded the air. The sound was different from the alarms back at WICKED's place. Different from the Grivers in the maze. It was nostalgic and almost relaxing. It made me want to close my eyes and forget who and where we were; made me want me to smile and laugh.

Then, as I went up the stairs, I remembered.

It was music.

"Brenda! Hurry!" Jorge said hurriedly. "We don't have much time! Let's go!"

We followed Jorge as he ran towards a window. I wondered if he had gone crazy and would jump over it, and my suspicions were confirmed when he opened it.

"The fuck is this?" I almost screamed.

"You gotta be kidding!" Frypan said after me.

There was a sort of thread from the window down to the other side. But when I looked at the thread, then the void around it, then at Minho, I felt nauseous.

"Grab onto these," Jorge said. "You guys want to go to the Right Arm?" he asked, a determined glint in his eyes. "I will lead you to them. But, you gonna owe me."

On these words, the man held the objects that were glued to one of the rope, moved toward the window, jumped, and slipped down onto it. "Follow me!"

"Alright!" Brenda said. "Let's go!" she gestured towards the objects, and I felt like all of this was a very bad idea.

I looked behind me to glance at Aris. He didn't look scared at all. He too, looked determined.

Don't look down, and everything'll be okay.

"Gladys, go!" Thomas pushed me towards one of the threads, just as Minho had gone onto one with a battle cry.

Gulping, I took hold of the two objects and imitated the Asian. I refused to close my eyes, and promised myself I wouldn't look down.

I didn't want to. Didn't want to go back to becoming that girl again. The girl who had woken up in a maze scared, surrounded with girls she didn't know. The girl who had cried herself to sleep, who had been so shy she couldn't even ask for some tissue when she had been on her period. If I closed my eyes right now, I would let all the grief come back, I would let it consume me again, and I would give in to despair.

No.

I wouldn't look down, and I wouldn't close my eyes this time.


	7. Suffocation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Thomas and Brenda disappear, memories of her past disturb Gladys.

"Thomas, where are you going?!"

"Don't worry," Thomas said. "I'll be behind you! Go!"

This time, I didn't hesitate. I looked away and slipped down onto the rope, following Aris and Minho, who had gone just before me.

Don't look down. I told myself.

And I didn't.

While slipping down onto the rope, I felt something touch my heart; I recognised adrenaline. My breath quickened, and my fingers began trembling around the rope. I was gripping it tightly, but mixed with the rapidity at which gravity attracted my body downwards, it hurt my skin like fire. However, this time, I refused to let out a noise. I refused to groan.

The next buidling quickly came into view. I could see Minho, Jorge and Aris. But I was still going too fast, because the next thing my eyes could distinguish was Minho's face as my body slammed into his.

The Asian groaned. "Shuck this!"

I coughed. My body felt numb from the impact. Shivers ran through me and I forced myself to move up from Minho.

"Sorry, Minho," I said as I got up. My legs were still trembling.

"It's okay." he answered, gripping his head through his hand. The now familiar noise of the rope coming closer alerted me of someone else coming. Looking up as I helped Minho up, I saw Newt.

Minho and I moved to the other side.

Frypan and Theresa arrived just after the blond. I frowned as Aris put a hand onto my shoulder, thinking about Thomas and Brenda.

"Okay kids," Jorge said once we had recovered. "Let's go now. We've got no time to waste."

"Wait!"

The old man looked at me. "What?"

"Thomas and your friend, Brenda," I said. "They're not here. We need to wait for them."

Jorge pursed his lips, a strange look in his eyes. "That won't be necessary."

"What? Hey, dude," Minho came to stand beside me. "We're waiting for our friend, and that's it. End of discussion."

Jorge shook his head.

"I told you it won't be neccessary."

As if on clue, the song that had been playing on since minutes abruptly stopped. A second later, explosions resounded all around us.

I shrieked, startled. Everyone else watched the other side, where the next building could be seen collapsing loudly.

"That's why I've told you it wouldn't be necessary," Jorge said after a moment. "We need to hurry and get the hell away from here-"

"Wait! Are you trying to tell us Thomas and the girl with him are both dead?!" Newt yelled. His voiced died down as the ground began trembling beneath us. It'd take probably a few moments until this building would also collapse.

Irritation glinted in Jorge's eyes. "No, kid! Brenda knows how to look after her. If your friend is with her, he's likely to be still alive!"

I scowled, and raised an octave as I said the next words: "Likely?!"

"Listen," Jorge rolled his eyes. He adjusted his handbag around his waist. "We can't waste time speaking about it. This whole building, along with the others, is going to collapse. If we stay here, we'll die before your friends at WICKED can even get to get away from the explosions. There's another way to the city. By taking the old tunnels. I know Brenda must have found a way to get into it. Now, we move! And no more questions until we get away from here alive! Got it? Now, follow me!"

Another explosion resounded next to us. Someone screamed. Jorge cursed and began running towards the other side.

"Let's go! Let's go!" Aris shouted.

"The whole building is indeed collapsing!" Minho yelled. "Are you sure you even know where you're going, old man?!"

"Kid!" Jorge replied with a frustrated yell. "Do you really think I'd be risking my own life with you people if I didn't know where I was going?!"

"Oh God!" I screamed just as the wall parralel to me began crumbling. Panic surged within me again. This situation was familiar. It was like my first time in the maze, when Hariet and Sonia got me out of the Black Box; like my first time seeing Grivers; Like the day Rachelle and Aris had proposed we find a way out of the maze by sneaking into it at night, the same time the Grivers would be out; like the exact moment we had found all those dead bodies, and all that blood...

"Gladys, Watch out!" New screamed.

Newt's hands pushed me out of the way, forcing me to move. Glancing at where I would have been, was nothing more than giant rocks falling from the ceiling.

Shit.

"Hurry up, kids!" Jorge yelled in the front. "We're almost here!"

Jorge turned to the left and faced a door. The old man took keys from his bag and put it into the locket, opening it.

"From now on," he said, turning to look at our disheveled faces. "You do as I say, you follow me, and you try to blend in!"

"Shank, I can't believe the shit he was saying actually made some sense." Minho exclaimed, taking Jorge's hand as he was bing helped up.

"Minho, for once, could you please stop talking?" I moaned just behind him, trying hard to avoid looking directly at his butt. "You're giving me a headache."

"Both of you kids, shut up," Jorge said, annoyed. "I didn't save you to have you whine."

I scoffed and Minho rolled his eyes.

When everyone got out, Aris' shoulders bumped against mine, and I allowed myself a small smile, and looked up when I felt Newt gazing at me.

It had been so long since I last smiled.

When was it? The last time I had smiled?

I frowned, trying to remember, pushing hard, forcing my head to find out, but it wouldn't obey. Perhaps it was because I was tired and thirsty and needed a shower, or perhaps it was because of the sun's scorching heat glare.

"Try to blend in," Jorge repeated. He took a few steps forwards and began walking towards the end of the alleys, where shadows of people were walking. "Don't stare at anyone here. Got it?"

I looked down from where we had come from for a moment, while the others followed Jorge. I swallowed and looked up, staring at the sky.

The sun was high and blinding. No clouds were in sight. Looking down after a sigh, I noticed that everything seemed to be extremely dry, as if it hadn't rained for months.

"That won't work."

I gasped.

!

A strident sound, close to an ultrasound flew through my ears.

"That'll never work!"

My chest began hurting me, as if someone was eating my heart from the inside. I took deep breaths, trying to calm myself. I felt like someone was putting sand into my throat.

"Gladys?" Newt called. "Are you alright?"

I panted, choking on something that wasn't even in my mouth. My body bended as I tried to catch my breath. Something was trying to get out, but nothing came.

"We can do it, the both of us."

"Gladys!"

I stared up as hands touched my face. Brown eyes. Soft brown eyes. It was Newt, Newt and his handsome face and blond hair and clear face. And I couldn't stop myself from seeing someone's else face instead.

"Shit," I faintly heard Jorge say. "Now we're really in deep shit."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hi!
> 
> I hope you liked it. Please, leave a review for me :)  
> I've decided to make shorter chapters now. Don't worry though, This one is the shortest I will ever update lol. My chapter lenght should be around 2000 words starting from the next update.
> 
> Please, give me tips on my grammar! I'd really appreciate it! :) 
> 
> See you soon!
> 
> ~~PiscesRain


	8. A/N

Hi, people!

First of all, I hope you're safe from Corona. It's been a hard time for everyone.

Secondly, I'd like to tell you that I've re read a few chapters and I plan on deleting the story to edit them. Since I've made massive changes to Gladys' personality, I need to rewrite the chapters.

Sorry... I just don't want to let you read something that is badly written with grammatical/spelling mistakes. It's just me. Don't worry though, I will re-publish the story as soon as I am done with editing the chapters. It shouldn't take too much time. 

If you're interested in reading this story, you can check on my profile in perhaps one/two month(s). The story's name will not change.

See you soon!


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